Mersing with Mike

With Michael Lo, Herman and Azmi, my duck went up to Johor and southern Pahang for a survey of peat swamps this week. Mike and Herman had already spent a day exploring Panti and Mawai when my duck and Azmi (on his off-road tourer) joined them early in the day at the Nasha Hotel in Kota Tinggi to plan the day’s route. Trailers bearing immense logs from ancient trees and dead forests could be seen regularly on the road.

The first stop (above) was a known locality for Betta tomi near Kota Tinggi. By the elevated banks of a small river lie tracts of side pools rich in leaf litter. Juvenile Rasbora einthovenii (less than an inch long) are common here, along with small gobies and loaches. A small number of cryptocorynes (probably C. cordata) were also found upstream. My duck collected plenty of leeches.

This frog jumped into the water before my duck could take a good peck at it.

Further ahead down the road, we turned off into an unpaved track surrounded by patches of secondary forest and freshwater swamps. We stopped by a clearwater stream and waded through, picking up Trigonostigma heteromorpha, bumblebee catfish, a small baung, Pangio sp. and other loaches that favour such sandy substrates. Rasbora elegans and Systomus binotatus were in abundance. A very small patch of Cryptocoryne nurii (below) were discovered at one point. From the track, we could hear carousing siamangs in distant trees. Azmi had to return to Singapore at this time and we continued northwards.

Lunch was at the crossroad town of Jemaluang: wanton noodles at an ancient shophouse. There was an aquarium with an oversized flowerhorn (sans kok tau) and swordtail/platy hybrids (Xiphophorus sp.) that served as feeders. Sated, we headed towards Mersing. Roadkill was a common sight along the entire east coast trunk road. Monkeys, monitor lizards, unidentifiable bits of fur and scales turn up every few miles. I saw one large cobra that made it across the road though, slithering off the tarmac just before a lorry zoomed by.

A little after Mersing, our stop featured a small tributary (above) with rich patches of Cryptocoryne cordata and Utricularia sp., as well as other unidentified plants. Large (tabletop size) clumps of cryptocorynes could be seen growing at levels over a metre deep, where the plants bear large, cordata leaf blades. Specimens closer to the water surface or growing emersed on wet mud bore much smaller leaves. No inflorescenes were evident at this time. In the water were various rasboras and barbs.

Before heading back to Mersing for the night, we stopped by a couple of spots to check out the local Nepenthes variety. On a degraded hillside by the road, Nepenthes rafflesiana (right) and N. gracilis grew in abundance amidst the ferns. On the fringes of a small swamp along another side road, we encountered N. rafflesiana, N. ampullaria (below) and their natural hybrid, N. xhookeriana. A bamboo orchid (Arundina graminifolia) bore gaudy flowers from a wisp of a stem, while a sympatric species produced tiny white-lipped flowers that were tucked close to the branching nodes.

An official function of extreme pomposity was taking place in Mersing that night, with policemen restricting access to some roads. The town’s premier hotels were fully-booked as a result. We decided against an establishment with non-functioning bathrooms and eventually found abode in the esteemable Mersing Inn. Over dinner (not at the depicted outfit though), scrawny local cats pawed our laps for morsels and we made a pitstop at the local Giant hypermarket (a friendly concern the size of an Econ Minimart) where I filled a shopping basket with cans of Guinness Malta (a beverage that for inexplicable reasons is unavailable in Singapore). Later, over teh tarik, we exchanged tales of hunting harimaus in Belum and haunting hantus at Zoo Negara, where Herman is setting up exhibits of Malaysian freshwater ecosystems.

The next morning, after a breakfast of prata, we set off for a peat swamp close to the Pahang border in search of bettas. The locality was rather hard-going, being relatively unspoiled, with dense hurdles of aerial roots and spikey palm petioles barring the way to a network of dark pools. There were plenty of Betta pugnax, some Channa gachua, Luciocephalus pulcher (which promptly gobbled up a rasbora sharing its bag), Boraras maculatus, loaches and catfish.

Crossing the Endau river into Pahang proper, we went past Kuala Rompin and ended up at a small blackwater pool teeming with Boraras maculatus, Systomus hexazona, Trichopsis pumilus and a small unidentified loach species. Betta waseri was previously recorded here, but we found none this time. Instead, a good number of Betta tussyae were caught in the thickly weeded shallows. With no surrounding trees, the pool is exposed to full sunlight, but rich growth of oversized Salvinia natans and a reddish floating Utricularia provided shelter for the fish, which also included Betta imbellis, Trichogaster trichopterus and Sphaerichthys osphromenoides.

Stopping at a whim at a site not too far away, we descended into a deeply-shaded peat swamp where Betta tussyae (right) in all sizes emerged from the leaf litter. Further from the water’s edge, splendid specimens of Betta bellica (left) were netted, along with Sphaerichthys osphromenoides and a Nandus sp. We split up at the bridge by the mouth of the Endau River, with Mike and Herman off to Kluang while my duck raced back home with muddy legs and hardened blood.

Comments

[Xema]

I am really envy to you, nice place, plants, wonderfull definitively.

[budak]

haha... did I mention all the leeches, mud, sweat and swamp trees covered with horrid thorns?

[Xema]

You are speaking as a urban citizen... thinking on the experience....

[Wynx]

Why you never ask me along...? Anyhow, nice writeup and pics too.

[budak]

aiyah.... i last minute also not sure can make it or not.. only confirmed arrangements the day before.... rush rush... dun angrey.. next time bring you help bash the monkeys...

[nano]

Is it trichopsis pumilus that you saw or vittata because
I have never ever caught or seen the pygmy gourami
in Malaysia but croaking gourami are abundant.